Skol Schemes, Week 10: Anatomy of an Interception

As hope seemed to be wearing thin (again) with the Buffalo Bills driving down the field, Patrick Peterson came away with a game winning interception to end a ferocious comeback for the Minnesota Vikings. On the play, The Vikings defense was in Cover 4. Generally, Patrick Peterson has deep and outside leverage in his quarter with a Safety playing an inside quarter:

At the snap, Josh Allen appeared to be looking to his left to check Stefon Diggs’ corner route. If the Vikings were playing Cover 2 to that side as they often do, this ball may have ended up thrown to Diggs for a TD. Away from Diggs, The Bills ran a quarters beater by having the Tight End clear out the inside quarters safety and had what Peterson called a Dover route behind it. To my eyes, it looks like the Bills’ double posts concept. Either way, the Bills have a good play called because every defense has a weak point. One of the weak points of quarters presents itself if you can occupy the Safety because the Cornerback’s leverage can create a void.

In his post game interview, Peterson mentioned that it is more difficult for Quarterbacks to throw the ball back into the field on plays like this. Allen was banking on Gabe Davis’ route taking advantage of Peterson’s outside leverage and the space opened up by the vertical clear route. Instead, Peterson undercut the receiver, and the Vikings moved on to 8-1. Here is the play in full:

Peterson really did earn his chains on this one. Take a look at my full video breakdown: